Introduction
Most of you will probably know that Jeanette and I have both been widowed
and subsequently met and married each other. We actually met as a result
of the personal ads column in the MK Citizen, joining a club which we
nicknamed The Merry Widows. We were among a group of friends who had experienced
the loss of our spouse under the age of 50. Although the club no longer
exists, the friendship and support we found in our unusual experience
continues. Despite other’s best efforts, none could really understand
what it was that we had recently experienced, not that we would wish it
on them. Only a widow really knows what it is like to lose your closest
partner in life. We tend to think of this kind of loss in psychological
terms – grief, bereavement of a particular kind which counselling
can sometimes ease. However, in our Bible readings today there are other
aspects to what widowhood may mean which I would like to explore. I want
to look at the story of the raising of the widow of Nain’s son from
three different angles or perspectives. After I have offered those perspectives
we consider three interpretations.

Personal
The most immediate level we might see this story is on the personal level.
It is a story in which Jesus overcomes the double grief of a woman: she
has lost her husband and on top of it, her only son has also died. I suppose
most of us dread these two kinds of loss more than anything else. On a
psychological level the death of a spouse and the death of a child are
two of the highest kinds of stress that anyone can experience. This story
in Luke’s gospel follows the one about Jesus healing the slave of
a Roman Centurion. They are both stories of healing in different ways,
and they show Jesus reaching out to those who might be considered outsiders
to normal society – a representative of the foreign occupying power,
who nevertheless is a kind man wanting to save suffering slave. The widow
had many sympathisers who attended the funeral, but all their mourning
couldn’t make any difference to the deep sense of loss the widow
must have experienced. Luke tells us repeatedly throughout his gospel
that Jesus had compassion on those he reached out to help. So Jesus reaches
out to the widow and restores her son to her.

Theological
This is a wonderful story and may attract us to Jesus because of what
he can do for people in distress. But we may also be left asking the question,
“Why does Luke include this story in his gospel, especially when
none of the other gospel writers do so?” That is to start looking
at this story from a theological perspective. The answer lies in the reaction
of the crowd to the miracle. Their first reaction, which we can easily
understand, is that they have just seen something rather scary –
they were at a funeral and the dead person was brought back to life –
that is not what you experience, not what you are prepared for on such
an occasion! But their other reaction was to exclaim, “A great prophet
has arisen among us.”

As Jane Williams,
in her commentary on this week’s readings puts it: “Perhaps
some..[of the crowd] ..went home and thought further about what they had
seen. Perhaps they even remembered the story of the prophet Elijah who
also raised a widow’s son from the dead.” They felt they were
experiencing something which their ancestors had – the presence
of a great prophet which in himself conveys a sense of God being amongst
them. The raising of the widow of Zarephath’s son, the story which
follows on from today’s OT reading, ends with the rejoicing mother
saying: “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word
of the Lord in your mouth is truth.” All the gospels invite us to
consider who Jesus is. Luke begins his account of Jesus by telling us
about his unusual birth and the unusual visits he received. He ends by
telling us about Jesus’ resurrection appearances in which he emphasises
his identity as the Messiah. In the broad sweep of his gospel, at this
stage Luke is still building towards that conclusion – at this stage
he is a great prophet whose word is divine and whose word is truth.

Economic
Justice
Little children ask the question Why interminably. After awhile they grow
out of it, but in some ways it is a shame, because as adults we do not
ask that question enough and are perhaps guilty of discouraging it in
children so much that they give up. Having asked why Luke included this
particular story in his gospel, there is another why question which we
perhaps are not inclined to ask. The question is prompted by the way in
which today’s gospel reading is accompanied by a similar one in
the OT. They are both stories about widows who have nothing left. In our
modern welfare state and our days of more equal access to the workplace
we do not see the widow in terms of economic destitution. It is easier
to see it in the OT story where Elijah’s request to her seems unreasonable
– but of the little she has, she is generous and we find that God
supplied what they all needed to survive the hardship of the times.

Although
families and relatives provided a system of support for the needier members
of society in those days there were still those who fell through the net
of care– as they always do. Even though there were many who followed
the coffin that day in Nain, it seems none of them were prepared to follow
up by offering the widow continuing support for her living needs. By restoring
the young man to the destitute mother, Jesus was restoring her means of
living, of surviving. It was far more significant than simply comforting
her psychological distress to bring him back to life – with her
son alive again she had someone to provide for her – that was the
sheer reality of the way life was organised in her day.

Three perspectives
– three interpretations
As well as the question why we also need to ask what does this mean? Arising
from these three different ways of looking at the story are also three
interpretations. Each is valid and we do well to hold them all together.

On a personal
level, if Jesus is the one who overcomes grief, the one who has compassion,
then this story assures us that in him we find hope, comfort and new life.
It is this Jesus that we might most readily experience and offer to others
yet to find faith in him.

On a theological
level, if Jesus is the new Elijah, the man of God whose word is truth,
then we are called to follow and bear witness to this one in whom we can
place our trust because he is the truth.

On an economic
level there is also a challenge to us. In Jesus we are called to challenge
injustice and restore the means of support to all who, like the widows
in today’s readings, are destitute. We are challenged to ask the
question why with the persistence of a 3 year old. Why do some people
not have enough to live on? Why are there haves and have nots? Why does
poverty and disease continue in a world that can send people to the moon
and fix the genes in our bodies? The questions are endless and the parent
in us or in society may discourage us from persisting.

Conclusion
St Luke wrote down what was being preached in his day by the first followers
of Jesus. They had been stirred by all that they had witnessed in their
lives. In some ways the miracle is that 2,000 years later the things that
Jesus did are still being talked about. The challenge for us today is
to see Jesus in all his fullness, on a personal level, on a level of truth,
and on the level of justice. When we hold all these together we can be
nearer the gospel and what can inspire us, or bring us to life when we
are overwhelmed by our own lives and what the world is doing to the life
of its people. “Surely a great prophet has arisen among us and God
has looked favourably on his people!”

God
of truth,
help us to keep your law of love
and to walk in ways of wisdom,
that we may find true life
in Jesus Christ your Son.